FleishmanHillard’s TRUE is an award-winning online magazine that features insights from thought leaders in the worlds of communications, marketing and media. Our goal is to create a dynamic community of executives, academics, authors and practitioners—a platform on which issues will be debated, problems analyzed, innovations proposed and best practices celebrated. We launch a themed issue quarterly and update weekly, but we’re looking for new ideas and new writers every day.

FleishmanHillard’s TRUE is an award-winning online magazine that features insights from thought leaders in the worlds of communications, marketing and media. Our goal is to create a dynamic community of executives, academics, authors and practitioners—a platform on which issues will be debated, problems analyzed, innovations proposed and best practices celebrated. We launch a themed issue quarterly and update weekly, but we’re looking for new ideas and new writers every day.

Digital & Social Media

Instagram’s Rebranding #Fail

By Alexis Bolin (FleishmanHillard)

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What Happened:

In an effort to modernize their brand, Instagram recently changed their iconic logo, which was one of the most recognizable tech symbols of today. Their previous logo, featuring a retro-looking camera, was replaced with an abstract image of a camera with a gradient background. Not surprisingly, users are not happy with the new emblem, and Instagram is receiving some criticism.

What This Means for Brands:

It is not uncommon for companies to rebrand themselves, and consumers are typically very open to modernization when it’s necessary. However, in the case of Instagram, many users did not see this need, and didn’t understand why the platform felt it had to modernize in the first place. Considering that their old logo was so well-known and the new one seems to get lost among every other unoriginal icon, this rebranding effort has been somewhat disappointing.

Based on Instagram’s experience, it may be wise for companies to reach out to their audiences before spending the time and money to create a new logo. It’s also not a bad idea to get your audience involved when making branding decisions, especially when it would have been so easy to do via the photo sharing platform. Though Instagram has not lost much due to this rebranding effort, they definitely have not benefited from it.